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Jameson Manufacturing
Background A household name for over two centuries, Jameson Manufacturing has long been regarded as one of Sol's more trustworthy and reliable megacorporations. Although it is among the smallest of the Big 5, Jameson has remained consistent in its relative size and influence throughout its span of existence. Most often written as "Jameson Mfg." or simply "JM," Jameson is known to all of Sol as a producer of cheap, high-quality goods. Unfortunately, this is accomplished by relying on technologies and techniques from previous generations in order to save money on research and development; as a result, JM is always behind its competitors technologically. For staunch supporters of the company's products, however, this is a small price to pay, as Jameson's own advertising states: "When you're lookin' for value, Jameson is the obvious choice!" History Jameson Manufacturing was a late comer to the corporate oligarchy established in the wake of the Warp War, originally consisting of a large conglomerate of smaller, less wealthy companies. When the Directorate was formed, and Future Forward Corporation "divested" itself from the workings of the government, Jameson had only just completed total merger and was still in its infancy, with far less influence. Though much smaller than their competitors, Jameson maintained a permanent presence in the Directorate as the largest producer of consumer goods during the early era of Solar expansion. Companies like Future Forward Corporation and Megatech Industries focused their efforts on providing for the future of humankind and following the instructions of their technocratic leaders, and as a result, it fell to others to provide many of the comforts of modern life that people had come to expect and rely on. In the late 22nd century the progress of humanity's colonization of the solar system began to slow and the people's trust in the Directorate government began to waver. It was then that Future Forward Corporation overtook Jameson as the largest producer of consumer goods in Sol, and the company was forced to find a new direction in order to stay afloat. Eventually, Jameson Manufacturing's hereditary chief executive officer, Eckbert Jameson, took total personal control over Jameson's process of development. Overseeing every step of the manufacturing process, Eckbert realized that in their attempt to compete with other, larger companies, his own had been wasting a great deal of time, money and resources on trying to develop superior, state of the art products. He retreated into his office for many months before finally returning to public life with a brand new corporate manifesto. Jameson Manufacturing shut down all but one of its R&D divisions completely and many of their products were immediately scrapped. Eckbert formed new teams within the company hierarchy, dedicated not to research and development, but strenuous, tedious, endless testing and adjustment of pre-existing technologies. Within a decade, Jameson's stocks had shot back up above their previous all-time high, and the company's reputation had shifted to reflect its new approach. Jameson clinched its position as the Solar System's largest producer of cheap, reliable goods, and today they manufacture more consumer vehicles than any other megacorporation in the Big 5.